Amphibious sports car makes commuting a breeze

By BRIDGET CARTER

The drive by car from Bayswater to downtown Auckland can sometimes take an hour.

Yesterday, the journey, by car, took just five rather wet minutes.

The quick trip was made by Alan Gibbs' amphibious sports car, the Aquada.

The New Zealand tycoon's $360,000 vehicle is a car and boat rolled into one that goes 169km/h on land and 48km/h on water.

Yesterday, Mr Gibbs showed off his machine on the Waitemata Harbour.

At first, when the driver, Gibbs Technologies managing director Neil Jenkins, took the Aquada down the boat ramp at Bayswater Marina, the machine looked and felt like a car about to sink.

But at the push of a button the wheels retracted and it zoomed off towards Auckland City and thumped and crashed its way through waves.

The highlight was sitting in the passenger seat while Mr Jenkins did marine-style 'donuts'.

But the downside of speed, stunts and fast turns on the Aquada was a soaking.

The machine, launched in Britain last September, looks and drives like a car, but in the water it becomes loud, fast and feels like a jetski.

One woman riding in the Aquada yesterday said: "It's a lot of fun, but doesn't do a lot for my hairdo."

Among the first people to own one was British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, who hopes to one day use it to cross the English Channel.

Mr Gibbs, who now lives in London, has his own machine that he has been using since Christmas on the Kaipara Harbour, where he has a farm.

He said that although the machine was developed primarily as a summer fun vehicle rather than for transport, it had the potential to beat traffic jams.

He built his own amphibious machine 10 years ago because of the struggles he faced trying to launch his boat into the Kaipara Harbour when the tide went out.

Ten years on, 30 have been produced from the Gibbs Technologies plant in Britain where there is a team of 50 engineers working on the Aquada.

A further 200 Aquadas are expected to roll off the production line this year.

At the end of yesterday's trial one wealthy Belgian couple, who have a superyacht in Auckland, said that when they went back to Europe they would buy an Aquada.

Alan Gibbs said there were several New Zealanders interested.

The water car

* The Aquada is powered by a Rover 2.5-litre V6-K engine.

* As it takes to water the wheels retract and a jet unit propels the machine. The process is reversed when it reaches land.

* It has a range of 480km on land and about 80km on water.